Which games had the best soundtrack?

[Murkrow]

Also which gens had your favourite trainer battle/wild battle/gym battle/etc musics? The ones that feature in every game.

My opinion on this is quite volatile. I guess it often depends on which is the generation I listened to so much that I got sick of it the least recently.

RSE was pretty good although I didn't care for the actual soundfront much (might have just been down to how the GBA produces sound, idk) so if there's a remake of that I'll eagerly await the music.

I always come back to gen 1 when it comes to gym leader music, and gen 2 when it comes to wild music.

Although now that I've played gen 5 I think I can safely say that it has my favourite musics. I like pretty much all of it. Trainer, gym, wild battles, Team Plasma, elite four, battle subway. I really like the variations on the gym theme in BW2, too.

I've only got X recently and I can't say I like the music. It's not bad, it definitely Pokémony, it just doesn't give me an excited happy feeling that some other Pokémon games do. I do like the rival battle music and the Battle Chateau/Maison music, though.

 

[kyeugh]

The BW music just wasn't for me; it seemed to loud and flashy and blarey, but maybe I'm just weird?

I didn't pay a lot of attention to X/Y music because of the circumstances in which the games were played. I hear it's good, though!

Personally, I'm leaning toward HGSS. It's just simple, generally feel-good music. I've always taken to it, really.

 

[hopeandjoy]

As of now, BW1 had the best music for me. I love so many of those tracks and not just because N's Farewell samples Mother 3's Theme of Love. (...I need to finish Mother 3 sometime.)

However, RSE's music is incredibly nostalgic to me and I bet that hearing it remixed with 3DS audio will make me very, very happy.

I don't really like Gen. 1's music though...

 

[I liek Squirtles]

For me, gen IV in general had the best soundtracks if we're talking about the main games. If we're including spinoffs, though, I'd say PMD has the best soundtrack, particularly the Explorers saga (time/darkness/sky), closely followed by gen IV and Conquest.

 

[Superbird]

VI > V = III > IV > II > I

I absolutely love generation 6's music, at least for the most part -- in terms of battle themes, the gym leader theme is really different and I feel like it really fits the mood, the elite four theme is even more awesome and fits the mood also, and the champion theme is fantastic and fits the mood. And the vs. Xerneas/Yveltal theme was really cool also. In general, I think that's something that X and Y did really really well, was making themes everywhere that either set or fit the mood of whatever was going on. All the battle themes were great, with the possible exception of the normal trainer battle and wild pokemon battle, neither of which are bad at all; they just don't really compare with the rest of the battle themes. The rest of the music is amazing also -- I think all the town themes fit really well, Snowbelle's theme being the most stunning out of that set of tracks, and Victory Road's theme is incredibly fitting and nice to listen to. And Route 18 is my favorite route music to ever grace the series, though route 15 is really cool too. And the power plant/pokeball factory theme is great also. X and Y also have the best bike theme in the series, hands down. And did I mention the Super Training theme? In general, I absolutely love X/Y's soundtrack, and it's one of the best parts of the game. I also think one could learn a lot from looking at it objectively in terms of how it accompanies the mood of the game at any given time, because that's something else that's really well done about it.

Generation 5's music is pretty cool too, although nowhere near as good as gen 6. While most of the battle music in gen 5 isn't that amazing in my opinion, I really enjoy the gym leader theme, I really enjoy the gym leader's last pokémon theme, and the elite four theme is great. What I really enjoyed about gen 5's soundtrack were the town themes, which I thought were really nice, especially things like Nimbasa and Driftveil and Opelucid (both versions). In terms of spin-off games, Conquest had a lot of really nice tracks too.

Generation 3 really needs a sound update -- and I mean an official one, because I've never really liked any fan remixes I've heard of basically anything in this game. That aside, it's filled with a ton of great tracks -- Meteor Falls, Magma/Aqua Hideout, Sky Tower, Mt. Pyre, and even the surfing and biking themes. And every single battle theme -- especially gym leaders, elite four, Archie/Maxie, and the champion -- is absolutely amazing, even (or should I say especially) in the limited soundfont of the GameBoy Advance, to such a degree that I've yet to hear a remix that I consider to sound better than the original except this. Also, Colosseum and XD had really cool battle themes (particularly cipher admins and tournament battle themes) as well, and I remember XD's S.S. Libra theme being really cool. And don't even let me mention PMD, which had one of the most amazing soundtracks ever.

As for generation 4, I don't have a problem with it. I just don't really like the soundfont in most cases, and none of the songs really appeal to me. I can't really recall anything of note from these games, although none of it was bad at all -- in fact, most of the music associated with Team Galactic was really cool, and Platinum's Giratina battle theme is really awesome. Bringing in spin-off games improves my opinion considerably -- PMD2's original soundtrack, especially the additions from Sky, is pure gold, although I don't like most of the PMD1 remixes, and Battle Revolution has a bunch of really cool battle music.

And finally, generations 1 and 2. None of the tracks in these games are really amazing, especially not when compared to what came in later generations. While there are some really great tracks, such as most of the Jhoto town themes, the gen 1 champion theme (especially in FRLG) and the gen 2 champion/Red battle theme (also Stadium's Mewtwo battle theme), little else really stands out to me.

tl;dr the pokémon franchise has a bunch of really great soundtracks, in both the main games and spin-off games, and in general the music has improved with every installment.

 

[Murkrow]

I really enjoy the gym leader's last pokémon theme

I liked that too, I'm a bit surprised gen 6 didn't go with something like that, or the low HP music. But I don't mind since the beeping they went with doesn't go on and on like all the previous games.

 

[RespectTheBlade]

aww, no one else liked platinum's sound track? :c I felt like everything fit, and there was such a varied mood. Plus there was the whole movement into nintendo DS soundfronts from the gameboy, so I guess that had an effect on my opinion as well.

BW/BW2 is a close second though. Especially with all the PWT remixes.

 

[Professor Wesker]

The Gamecube games easily had my favorite soundtracks in the series. Whether it's the ominous Cipher Admin battle theme, the gritty dark feeling of the Under's theme, the relaxing tune used in Gateon Port, or the majestic, uplifting tunes for both final bosses, I think Colosseum and XD dominated when it came to music.

Now for the handhelds, that's a much harder question. Can I just be that one lazy guy and say I love them equally?

Now for the spinoffs, I personal like Pokémon Ranger: Shadow's of Almia's music. That game had some great underrated songs such as the Vien Forest theme, the Ranger Academy song, the Oil Field and Cargo Ship song (My favorite! :D), and pretty much any battle theme involving Team Dim Sun.

 

[Minish]

sorry

 

[Tailsy]

tie between RSE and XY. i really like the quirkiness of gen 6's music, but RSE fills me with such tender nostalgia of my youth~~ if i had to pick (which i do because there's only the choice of one option on the poll), then ummmm... ummm... i'll think about it! then i will poll that shit.

although i really love the remixed HGSS music, particularly the legendary beast battle themes. radnasty as heck. oh NO...

(i'm amused about colosseum/XD being on the poll. bless them because as much as i think the games are underrated, their music wasn't especially memorable. except the cipher hideout theme, i think it is? or maybe it's the under's theme?)

 

[Butterfree]

Sometime the other day I was listening to a bunch of YouTube compilations of Pokémon music from across the generations and was surprised at how often I thought "Oh, this, I really liked this. What game was it from again?" and discovered it was D/P/Pt. There are only a few standout themes I particularly like from generations five and six, but I find most of the D/P/Pt soundtrack absolutely lovely. R/S/E also had a lot of great themes, but also more that I don't really care for.

I still think the first two generations had incredibly nice music, though. Basically every single theme, even the ones that loop after twenty seconds, is really catchy, distinct, melodic and doesn't get grating in the slightest (I actually think some of the FR/LG/HG/SS remixes are worse than the originals by virtue of making it kind of grating, e.g. Cerulean City in FR/LG). I didn't like G/S/C's remixes of Kanto music as much as the originals, though. So I think I'll have to vote for the first generation, but the second and fourth are also really up there.